“There are many more choices for consumers in the coffee market here now,” said Wu, 35, who set up the store with her boyfriend this year, the couple’s second outlet. The firm held a 54.8 per cent share of China’s 25.2 billion yuan ($3.81 billion) specialist coffee shop market last year, far ahead of rivals like McDonald’s Corp’s McCafe and Whitbread Plc’s Costa Coffee, Euromonitor data show. Unlike in the United States, Starbucks’ challenge in China has been winning over traditional tea drinkers to coffee, rather than fending off local rivals. International coffee chains are now looking to get in on the act, too – despite Starbucks having a big head start. For now at least, China’s developing cafe culture is likely to be more a boost than burden for big names like Starbucks.

Source: The Express Tribune December 05, 2017 10:52 UTC